Journal Archives from June 2009 |
Masters of the Universe Classics - Hordak
The Masters of the Universe Classics figure for this month was Hordak, and we reported excitedly on it's launch on the 15th at noon, and the utter sell-out of all stock 55 minutes later! Well, we managed to grab a few examples of this stunning figure here at the Preserve, and we're finally at least getting a few packaged images up in the archive. We've even opened one and it's as great as we'd hoped, so shots of that will be added soon as well. Click the image below for the full gallery, and for his excellent bio which details the other side of the arrangement that led Keldor down the path of evil! Posted by charlie on June 30th 2009, 08:54 PM Leave Comment ![]() |
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G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra - Elite Viper
eBay seller ws_toys does it again and brings us a look at the upcoming Cobra Elite Viper figure, loose and up close! This is another excellent figure from the Rise of Cobra line, and is helping to contribute to our thoughts of giving at least some of these figures a home in the Preserve! Click the image for a larger view and click here for the auction listing itself! Posted by charlie on June 29th 2009, 10:37 PM Leave Comment ![]() |
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eBay Watch - Set of Preserve Favorites
We're trying to do more eBay watches these days since we can highlight some interesting things while we're still working on organizing the local collection for photographing and archiving. Today we came across a pretty cool lot that includes Preserve favorites over several obscure lines! You will very rarely see X-Panders on eBay to start with, but here we have one featured with some Mega Force as well as Exo Squad items! Click here to check out this lot - it may well be a good value at the buy-it-now of $200 but it starts at $10 with no reserve - good luck! Posted by charlie on June 28th 2009, 07:32 PM Leave Comment ![]() |
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G.I Joe Modern Era - 12 Inch Snow Job
It was a beautiful late spring day here today, where the skies were partly cloudy, the sun was warm and the wine was cold. A perfect day, therefore, to feature the 12 Inch Snow Job Arctic Trooper figure from the G.I. Joe Modern Era line! I'm a big fan of this figure format that Hasbro stuck with into 2009, and am glad we can finally get back to featuring more of our collection! Click the image below for a look at this geared up figure - I mean, he comes with scale-accurate skis! Posted by charlie on June 27th 2009, 10:42 PM Comments(1) Leave Comment ![]() |
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Michael Jackson Moonwalks Through Pearly Gates
As everyone has probably heard by now, Michael Jackson passed away today of as yet unknown causes. He has meant so much to the music industry for so many years and to so many fans that it's really hard to believe the news. Growing up, I had only two musical influences - ie. only two cassettes that I listened to over and over - The Best of Devo and Michael Jackson's Thriller. That maybe explains a lot! So I've always had a really fond place in my heart for Michael, as he was the soundtrack for so many Transformers battles in my room. Everyone take a moment to remember him today as the star and the talent that he was and queue up a classic song - you'll remember just how rockin' it's always been. ![]() Posted by charlie on June 26th 2009, 07:45 PM Leave Comment ![]() |
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Transformers Animated - Voyager Class Megatron
The movie is meeting with mixed reviews around the Internet, though as with all things I hope to find parts of it I can enjoy - I've not made it yet but hopefully over the weekend! At the end of the day, my opinion still is that these live action movies have introduced the concept of Transformers to a whole new generation of kids, and have reinvigorated the entire brand due to their amazing box office success (55 million opening day on Wednesday - a new record)! Solid brand support can only be good for us collectors, so be thankful for Skids' gold tooth and Devestator's Wrecking Balls, if you can! But, now the movie is out, it will be a huge global success, and we can get back to the business of archiving all of these great toys! Let's continue our Transformers theme, but swing back to a non-Revenge line with Voyager Class Megatron from Transformers Animated! All of the excellent show-accurate toys in this line serve to make us sad that the show has been canceled, but with luck Hasbro will follow through on releasing the last waves of figures sometime later on. Click the image below for more shots of Megatron and his excellent bio! Posted by charlie on June 25th 2009, 01:06 AM Leave Comment ![]() |
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Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen Released
Today the brand new live-action Transformers movie hit theaters in the US and was rapidly gobbled up by robot and action movie fans alike. Opening several days ago overseas, it already pulled in $20million on it's opening day in only Japan and Britan on less than 1000 screens. The numbers for today are still trickling in, but it sounds like this film will really rake in an amazing amount of cash! Ebert had some interesting things to say about how this really feels to him like the pinnacle of over-the-top effects driven action spectaculars, which will be remembered and studied for years as the best performing of the breed, and the time it all came crashing down. Another interesting, less error-filled review (Deceptibots? Really?) is over at themovieblog.com. As usual, though, I just suggest everyone who has any interest actually sees it for themselves and draws their own conclusions. I admit that I've not gone yet - maybe this weekend. I'm still on the fence about paying $10 to watch Michael Bay kill Arcee. Otherwise - it does promise to be an all-out, loud, hard hitting action fest, so if you can forget that it's supposed to be the Transformers, and enjoy the occasional easter egg of Peter Cullen's Prime or Frank Welker's G1 Soundwave, there will probably be enjoyment enough to warrant the trip! By way of changing the subject, here's a great eBay watch, sadly ended, but for a Tremors item I've never seen - a doormat! Posted by charlie on June 24th 2009, 10:16 PM Comments(3) Leave Comment ![]() |
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Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen: Chromia
Well, it is the eve of the release of the new Transformers movie, which will be hitting theaters on Wednesday, the 24th of June. In continued celebration, I wanted to bring you one of the 'sisters' from this new movie, Chromia! Girl Transformers have historically been a rare and cherished aspect of the franchise, and it is certainly cool that this film brings us three, including the classic character of Arcee (though sadly we hear that Bay kills her off quickly, and she was not voiced by the excellent Sue Blu as previously hoped!). Chromia has been in the cannon since G1 as one of Elita-1's field commanders and her love with Ironhide is timeless! Click the image of Chromia to check out the bio and stats of this warrior and let us all hope that Bay gives her a chance to shine in the new film. Posted by charlie on June 23rd 2009, 10:18 PM Leave Comment ![]() |
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Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen: Rampage
Continuing our run-up to the release of the new Transformers film this Wednesday, I wanted to post another figure from the brand new Revenge of the Fallen toy line from Hasbro. This time we have Rampage, a bulldozer in the construction motif that is permeating this new line, thanks to the presence of the fan favorite gestalt Devestator! Rampage has a pretty gritty bio and vastly unbalanced stats to match. Click the image below for the full story! Posted by charlie on June 22nd 2009, 09:56 PM Leave Comment ![]() |
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Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen: Breakaway
Since the Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen movie comes out this very Wednesday, it seems only right to fess up about the several items we've purchased from the new toy line, and to feature them on the Preserve! This is Breakaway, who shares a name with a 2007 WalMart exclusive from the first movie line and who has cropped up in a few other places over the years (sometimes confused with Getaway). Click the image below for his current stats, bio and more pics of the new Revenge of the Fallen packaging! Posted by charlie on June 21st 2009, 09:45 PM Leave Comment ![]() |
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Transformers Universe - Smokescreen
Posting Pilot Scarlett the other day has reminded and encouraged me to get back into the all-but-forgotten tail end of the 2008/2009 Preserve archives. There are still literally crates of great new toys sitting around here that have yet to make their presence known in pictures! Let's finish up wave 5 of the Deluxe figures from the Transformers Universe collection with Smokescreen - an old favorite from the G1 line, he is sporting his original paint job and immediately triggers fond nostalgia for any long time fan. Click the image for his full bio, stats and more pics! Posted by charlie on June 20th 2009, 10:32 PM Leave Comment ![]() |
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Friday Movie Night Success!
As friend of the Preserve rudger was wise to point out in his comment to Wednesday's post about Mega Shark, the real winner of tonight's movie event was Krull! A classic from 1983 it exhibits so much of what is fantastic about a movie from that era - practical effects, film quality, lighting, lasers, sword fighting, trained tigers - it's all in there! As an added bonus you even get Freddie Jones who you may remember as Thufir Hawat from David Lynch's 1984 masterpiece of Dune! Starting out with the best of the two films (Krull) front loaded the awesome a bit, but the way these things usually go is that the degree of anesthetization increases linearly with time, so I was all set for Mega Shark versus Giant Octopus as the second billing. I wouldn't go so far as to call it in any way 'unwatchable' and, as with just about all things there was plenty to enjoy if you watched it correctly! 'Science' consisting of mixing colored water together in incorrect glassware. The 'Romance' of a magical night spent in the janitor's closet. 'Action' of some pretty awesome CG - courtesy of the effects company 'Tiny Juggernaut' - the best being the Mega Shark snatching a commuter air flight from the skies! Yes and we get to see Lorenzo Lamas as a misogynistic black-ops sort of guy tasked with handling the mega-animal problem, and Deborah ("Debbie") Gibson as the female lead (yes, that Debbie Gibson! Did you know she was uncredited as the birthday girl in the Tavern on the Green in Ghostbusters?!) We'll get into more detail later, with a few key pics, but I still have to give it a cautious thumbs up! Final word though for tonight - if you haven't seen it, get Krull first. Posted by charlie on June 19th 2009, 09:33 PM Comments(1) Leave Comment ![]() |
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Target Deals and G.I. Joe Modern Era: Pilot Scarlett
Several days ago, our Target run uncovered a pretty significant clearance on all remaining G.I. Joe figures in stock! Vehicles were going for around $10, single figures for $4.50, 12" figures for $10 and Mighty Muggs for about $7. Interestingly the Combat Heroes didn't seem to be marked down, though sadly I was too lazy to take one over to the conveniently located price check station! Get on down to your local Target to score some additional figures from the Modern Era collection before they are replaced by the movie line. In celebration and remembrance of the fantastic 2008/2009 Modern Era line, we wanted to return to our all-but-forgotten task of completing our archives! Today let's take a look at Pilot Scarlett - sadly she seemed to be one of the peg warmers when the wave first hit, but now is just as rare as the rest! Click the image for her full bio and more images. Also in Target news - of course this comes after we have purchased a few other figures from the new Movie line, but the side-cap right next to the movie toys was sporting a large stack of tear-off coupons! Called 'Power Coupons' these are good on any Transformers purchase, and entitle you to:
Posted by charlie on June 18th 2009, 08:36 PM Leave Comment ![]() |
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Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus - En Route!
Thanks to the hilariously greater than expected rental popularity of Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus at Netflix since the moment of it's release, it has only just now come up as available and is now on it's way to the Preserve! I suspect that the 10-15 Internets citizens who had heard of this film were vying furiously for the single copy and now the conch shell passes to me! Yes, I'm sure it will be bad, but I have low willpower and really, who can resist? While I make few content related promises these days, I do hope to at least ring in with a mighty thumbs up or down in the next few days - helping Preserve readers to make dubiously-informed viewing decisions since 2001! Posted by charlie on June 17th 2009, 10:33 AM Comments(1) Leave Comment ![]() |
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Ghostbusters: The Video Game - Available Today!
![]() Press Release - It is June 16th already! You know what that means - the brand new, hotly anticipated Ghostbusters video game from Atari hits stores today! Click the link for the full press release from Atari and get all the details. Read More Posted by charlie on June 16th 2009, 06:37 AM Leave Comment ![]() |
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Masters of the Universe Classics - Zodac
Today's Hordak release was a great success for the Preserve, as we've managed to order enough for saving, opening and Uncling! Hopefully everyone else can get their hands on this figure before the inevitable sellout. In celebration of the release day, we finally got the great figure from 30 days ago posted! Click the image below for more shots of Zodac, and for the case break. Update: Hordak has sold out in 1 hour! That is with Mattel's newly doubled manufacturing numbers! Congrats to Mattel and this means good things for the Masters of the Universe Classics line! Posted by charlie on June 15th 2009, 11:59 AM Leave Comment ![]() |
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Masters of the Universe Classics - Hordak This Monday
It seems almost impossible to believe that a month has passed since Zodac was made available on mattycollector.com but now, in a few hours, Hordak will follow in his soon-to-be-sold-out footsteps! That's right folks, it's the 15th tomorrow and that means only one thing - the latest entry in the Masters of the Universe Classics line goes live this Monday at noon! This is sure to break all records for selling out speed, and the prices on the after market are sure to be nose bleed inducing. Those of us who just really want this figure for our collections, rather than for resale, better hope our internet connections are working well at noon - it will be a tense time for sure! Best of luck to all Preserve readers who are hoping to score this amazingly well designed figure! Posted by charlie on June 14th 2009, 09:33 PM Leave Comment ![]() |
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Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen, Leader Class Optimus Prime
For a time, we had considered sparing ourselves the Revenge of the Fallen toy line, but now I shall witness...it's dismemberment! Well, at least, I shall witness what was said to be the crown jewel of the new line by the Hasbro team themselves, the brand new Leader Class Optimus Prime! We saw it in the stores, along with the first wave of the new Deluxe, Scout and Voyager figures and simply could not resist! As is the case with the Pandora's Purchase around here at the Preserve, I have to imagine that we'll be seeing at least a few more figures from this new movie line posted to the archives soon. In the meantime, click the image below to see our gallery of this new figure, taken in the back of the car in the Target parking lot in our haste! Posted by charlie on June 13th 2009, 09:46 PM Comments(1) Leave Comment ![]() |
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Analog TV Finally Succombs to Digital
Certainly a huge part of childhood was the consumption of massive amounts of TV. In later years, probably due to college, I was somewhat weened from that dependency and instead consumed more 'on demand' content, which in 1997 meant movies...netflix what? Now days, I'm still more likely to watch a fine Don 'the dragon' movie than I am to tune into the latest episode of....hmm, can't even think of anything other than news shows (yes, Colbert counts as that)! However, it is with a distinct note of sadness that I want to recognize the historic import of today and tomorrow with respect to the noble TV. CNN.com tells us that today, Friday June 12th, TV stations nationwide are shutting down their analog broadcast signals, and making the final cut-over to digital. By 12:01 am Saturday all of the analog transmitters must be offline! Take a moment to remember your kind, static-y TVs of yesteryear, and make sure to save one or two for when we have to revert in 2010! Posted by charlie on June 12th 2009, 10:51 AM Leave Comment ![]() |
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HasbroToyShop.com Rise of Cobra In Stock
Hasbro has just sent out notification that the M.A.R.S. Trooper 3-pack from the new G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra movie line is now available for purchase and immediate shipping at hasbrotoyshop.com! While some internet citizens were finding these RoC figures in Canadian Toys R Us stores over a month ago, this official web-release must mean that the larger line can't be far away! Get ready for another great expansion of the G.I. Joe universe, and let's hope that the movie can at least live up to a small fraction of our expectations. Posted by charlie on June 11th 2009, 11:05 PM Leave Comment ![]() |
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Shia TheBeef
The Uncle brings to us today a simply astonishing and bizarre selection of quotes from everyone's favorite childhood-memory destroying pawn, TheBeef himself! Seems that the pressures of being the biggest name in 1980s kids toy and adventure franchise remakes is feeling the pressure a little too well and has been hitting that ol' bottle and losing his woman. Click here to read a short but sweet romp through the mind of Shia! Posted by charlie on June 10th 2009, 10:21 PM Leave Comment ![]() |
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Mezco Toyz - Abe Sapien 18inch figure
![]() Press Release - Mezco Toyz today brings us pictures of their brand new Deluxe 18" Abe Sapien figure. Finally their giant, amazingly crafted Hellboy figure has a sidekick! This figure will be available at the upcoming San Diego Comic Con or on their Mezco Direct website - click the link to see more great images of this amazing figure! Read More Posted by charlie on June 9th 2009, 06:15 AM Leave Comment ![]() |
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Conan's New Set - Mario Inspired
Conan O'Brien took over hosting duties at the Tonight Show last week, and I guess things have been going pretty well, though my addiction to the Colbert Report (this week from Iraq!!) and old dvd episodes of Filmation's Ghostbusters cartoon usually prevent me from watching such grown-up network programming. However, news was making the rounds on the gaming Internets that the background image seen during Conan's monologue looked suspiciously like it was lifted directly from the Mario franchise. I guess it's not surprising, as people my age (30s...woo!) are in charge of more and more things - we're just bound to see these influences from our recent youth cropping up all over! Well, Conan finally fessed up to it, or at least had some fun with the claims. I couldn't resist finally mentioning it here on the Preserve and posting the video! Big thanks as usual to toplessRobot.com for the specific clip tip and for being awesome as usual! Posted by charlie on June 8th 2009, 09:13 PM Leave Comment ![]() |
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Lego Brickmaster - May/June set 20008
It's been a while since we actually added any products to the Preserve archives, but today it is definitely high time to catch up with our Brickmaster subscription! They threw us off a little by skipping product numbers, 20011 in March and now 20008 in May, but we have another excellent Lego Creator Brickmaster Exclusive set for you! This isn't just an average tow truck, this is clearly one of those beefy big-rig jobs that you see towing other similarly massive vehicles down the road. In other words, when your semi breaks down, this is the vehicle that gets you to the shop! Click the image for a little more product info and pictures of the set and the member exclusive magazine that accompanied it. Posted by charlie on June 7th 2009, 09:09 PM Leave Comment ![]() |
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Preserve Movie Pick - Masters of the Universe
While not likely to appear as a regular feature any time soon, it is at least somewhat considerate to let the dedicated readers of the Preserve know of the movie picks which will brighten their day! While I imagine most Preserve readers are fans of Dolph Lundgren as well as He-Man, I too fall victim to the illusion that those two passions cannot possibly be intertwined. Well, enter 1987's masterpiece of Masters of the Universe, wherein Dolph plays, of course, He-Man himself! While suffering from it's fair share of kids-toy-to-big-screen complications, you do get Billy Barty in a crazy creature suit, a pretty excellent Man-at-Arms, Teela in a ridiculous thong-based outfit, and Dolph running around, with very few lines, being awesome. I'm sure many of you have seen this at some point, but why not revisit it today? I know I did! Posted by charlie on June 6th 2009, 09:58 PM Leave Comment ![]() |
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Dan Aykroyd on Ghostbusters, The Video Game
Thanks are again due to alert Preserve reader pkdan for bringing this new article, from the New York Times no less, to our attention! Dan Aykroyd, of course known by Preserve readers across the land as Raymond Stantz, talks about his eclectic family history, his own relationship to the paranormal and his experiences working on the new game. Click here to read the full text and see a couple truly excellent pictures! Also, we've just noticed another article with Raymond over at the LA Times! ![]() Posted by charlie on June 5th 2009, 11:42 AM Leave Comment ![]() |
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Transformers Q&A Round 2 - 2009
Ok folks, the Transformers team over at Hasbro has just sent us their answers to our second Q&A for 2009. See below for the details! Transformers Q&A #2 (2009) Preserve: What retailer exclusives can the fans be excited about from the movie line? Any new announcements? Hasbro: We will be announcing and displaying many of the 2009 account exclusives at this year's Botcon in Pasadena. Stay tuned as there will certainly be some great reveals! Preserve: Another popular Hasbro action figure brand with a 2009 movie line is meeting the fans half way by sneaking in figures that aren't necessarily in the film, in order to keep the line fun and full of popular characters and to extend the anniversary. Will there be room in the Transformers RotF line to include non-movie characters, akin to the 'from the video game' figures from the first live action movie toy line? This might help ease the pain of losing the 25th Anniversary / Universe line so abruptly, while also making the marketing department happy! Hasbro: We continue to bring back popular characters from the past to round out the Revenge of the Fallen line that are re-imagined to fit into today's world. Additionally, we will continue to use characters that are seen throughout all aspects of the brand such as Breakaway who was featured in the Revenge of the Fallen video game. Preserve: Previous San Diego Comic Con Transformers exclusive figures have been made available through alternate outlets like HasbroToyShop.com and even the Transformers Collectors Club store. This year's SDCC G1 Soundwave reissue would be perfect for Botcon with this being the 25th anniversary of the line. Why aren't the SDCC exclusives made available at Botcon? Hasbro: We certainly love all of the attention and excitement that our 2009 Comic Con Soundwave has been receiving! He is such an important part of the lore that we felt it would not be a proper 25th Anniversary celebration without including him in the line in some form or fashion. As for Transformers toys sold at Comic Con, they are specifically developed with the intention of first being offered at Comic Con. Due to Botcon being held before Comic Con this year, it would not make sense for us to sell this beforehand based on this intention. Thanks to the Transformers team for all of the great answers to our questions! Posted by charlie on June 5th 2009, 06:03 AM Comments(2) Leave Comment ![]() |
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David Carradine Passes Away
In sad news today, David Carradine was found dead in a Bangkok, Thailand, hotel early this morning. What fantastically shady circumstances, and hopefully he went out with a bang! (Update: Turns out it wasn't the excellent sort of passing I'd hoped for - sorry to hear) We all loved the guy around here at the Preserve, and it's definitely rough to have to share this with his fellow fans. I am glad that it has been the Breaking News on CNN.com for the last hour, though - at least they have their priorities right! Thanks for the good times. ![]() Posted by charlie on June 4th 2009, 08:00 AM Comments(2) Leave Comment ![]() |
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Transformers and G.I. Joe - The Greats on DVD!
So many thank yous are due to Shout Factory, for doing what appears to be a careful, respectful and awesome job in bringing the original animated series of Transformers and G.I. Joe back to retail. For too long, the dvd efforts of these sets have been lackluster and out of print, available only on the secondary market for several multiples of the original price. Now they have two amazing box sets planned for imminent release. As usual Rob over at toplessrobot.com has done a wonderful writeup on the salient features of these sets, so click on over to see his pics and discussion! Posted by charlie on June 3rd 2009, 01:29 AM Leave Comment ![]() |
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eBay Watch - Flash Force 2000 Rampage Rock
Today we have another fine eBay watch, this time of one of our favorite lines around the Preserve, Flash Force 2000! Any piece from this short lived series is very rare, and you can expect to find them on eBay maybe once every 2 months at most. This is a particularly nice one, though - the Rampage Rock playset mint in box! With a buy it now of $25, we're likely to get it ourselves unless a Preserve reader snaps it up first! Posted by charlie on June 2nd 2009, 09:14 PM Leave Comment ![]() |
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eBay Watch - Ultra Magnus Hard Hero
Given that BotCon 2009 has just finished up, it seemed time to reminisce about the trip that The Uncle and I took to BotCon 2007. In particular, we purchased a legendary amount of stuff from the dealer room - enough to nearly fill our humble hotel room and necessitate a great number of round trips to our vehicles on Sunday when we had to get outta dodge. One of the themes to our buying, that in no small part contributed to the sheer size of our overall purchase, were pieces from the Transformers Bust line by Hard Hero. The line had recently been scrubbed, and one of the dealers had bought up a great amount of their surviving stock. Most of the pieces in the line were available for a fantastic discount, and when one is in the throes of the dealer room it's hard to say no to a bargain! Out of the entire line, the two pieces they didn't have were Ultra Magnus and Shockwave, which we saw elsewhere in the show but neglected to pick up at the 'outrageous' prices of $20 or so. It has since become clear that those are two of the more rare items in the Hard Hero line (though they are all getting pretty rare lately), so we keep an eye open for them. Today's eBay watch is for a nice boxed example of Ultra Magnus - let's see how it does! Posted by charlie on June 1st 2009, 09:19 PM Leave Comment ![]() |
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